


Hair-Raising

by perilouspage



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: FWP, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Oneshot, implied past mainewash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 09:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4015363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perilouspage/pseuds/perilouspage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off a single-parent AU prompt from Tumblr: "you crouched down to coo at my baby but i forgot to tell you their favorite thing to do is to play with people’s hair and now they won’t let go of you"</p><p>In which Wash meets the infamous Lavernius Tucker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hair-Raising

When David Washington thought of Lavernius Tucker, "responsibility" did not cross his mind. Wash knew Tucker only through the anecdotes told by his friends, as a partier, a drinker, and an all-around bad influence. Church complained endlessly about the man's lack of manners and etiquette (or, in Church's words,  his "being a blistering dickwad"). Carolina responded to the mere mention of Tucker's name with an amused snort and a shake of the head. The most responsible thing he'd heard Tucker do had been recounted to him by Grif, when Lavernius had driven an intoxicated Kaikaina home after a graduation party gone awry. This hardly counted in Wash's eyes, however, since Tucker himself had been drinking, and the two ended up having sex upon arrival at the Grif residence. Therefore, upon meeting the infamous Tucker at the Director's Memorial Day picnic, Wash found himself in total disbelief.

 

"Tucker," the man introduced himself, extending one hand. "Lavernius Tucker. I've heard about you. Wash, right?"

 

Tucker was shorter than Wash by about a head, stocky in build and more handsome than Wash had envisioned. His light-wash jeans and teal t-shirt contrasted starkly with his dark skin, and he flashed a white-toothed smile from underneath a disorganized cloud of curly brown hair. It wasn't the physical appearance that had Wash in shock, however. Balanced upon one of Tucker's jutted-out hips was was a child, no older than a year and a half, with his face buried shyly in Tucker's shirt. Tucker had removed the hand he'd offered to Washington from the child's back, which only caused him to wiggle more firmly into place.

 

It took Wash a beat too long to realize he was staring. Tucker waved his extended hand up and down, and Wash felt an embarrassed heat creep up his neck.

 

"Sorry," Wash stuttered, grasping Tucker's hand in a hasty handshake. "Yes, that's... what they call me."

 

"Awesome. This here is Junior," Tucker said with a grin, and returned his hand to the baby's back. "Handsome little sonuvabitch, just like his dad." Then, to Junior, he stage-whispered, "Why don't you say hi, dude?"

 

Wash pushed back the barrage of questions that bubbled uncontrollably forth. _He's yours_ _? You really named your kid Junior? Should you be swearing like that around him? Somebody entrusted  you  with a human life?  _ Instead of voicing them, Wash smiled his politest smile and bowed a little at the waist, putting himself eye-to-eye with Junior. Wash definitely had a soft spot for children, though children rarely had a soft spot for him. He hoped the precautions would override his less welcoming features, like his scarred left brow and fatigue-bruised eyes, and encourage the boy to say hello. "Nice to meet you, Junior," he said, in his most pacifying voice.

 

Slowly, Junior did peek around a fistful of t-shirt. He had his father's doe-like brown eyes framed in long lashes, and his head was topped by a shorter, thinner version of Tucker's wild hair. Wash leaned forward to coo hello, and suddenly Junior was letting go of Tucker's shirt, pivoting towards Wash-

 

And he seized two fistfuls of Wash's bleached hair, right town to its brown root. With a giggle, Junior yanked, and Wash yelped in surprise.

 

"Junior!" Tucker exclaimed. "Oh my god, I'm sorry, he's into hair right now-"

 

Wash laughed once, a nervous exclamation, as his hands flew to Junior's. The child's fists were gripping tight, and as tugging the chubby little hands away failed to loosen them, Wash switched to clamping down, to minimize pain.

 

Tucker's free hand joined the tangle. A stream of "shit, sorry"s and "Jesus Christ"s fell from his mouth as he stepped towards Wash. Tucker plied Wash's hands away gently before getting his son's. Wash laughed again, felt his own breath in his face as reflected by Tucker's chest. "So sorry, man," Tucker repeated, finally removing Junior's fists along with more than a few strands of Wash's hair.

 

As soon as he was free, Wash jerked back up and quickly got out of Tucker's personal space. "No, it's okay," he said, even as he rubbed his scalp. "I actually really like kids."

 

"Even when they're pulling out your hair?" Tucker smirked. "People usually only say that to people with kids when they're trying to get in their pants."

 

"Whoa, Lavernius," Wash replied. His voice threatened to rise in pitch, as it often did when he was flustered, but he aggressively overrode it. He again filtered through questions-  _ Would Junior's mom mind the flirting? Is Tucker a single parent? _ \-  before he worked out a response. "No offense, but you've got quite the reputation for that yourself."

 

Tucker snorted. "Hell yeah! Where do you think babies-" -he bounced Junior on his hip- "-come from, anyway?"

 

Blessedly, Carolina chose that moment to interrupt the conversation. "I see you've met Tucker," she said to Wash.

 

"Nice to see you, too, Lina," Tucker said.

 

Carolina was reaching for Junior, and Tucker handed the desperately resisting boy over. Carolina kissed the boy's face before setting him on the grass. She crouched, two of her fingers held in each of his hands, and she cooed to him as he teetered in place. "I've got him," she said, this time to Tucker. "North is grilling up some steak, and Grif brought potato salad."

 

With that, Tucker went traipsing off in search of food, and left Carolina and Wash near the entrance to the Director's backyard.

 

"You never told me he had a kid," Wash squawked into the odd silence that ensued.

 

"Wasn't important," Carolina replied with a shrug. She then dropped her voice. "I know you're curious, though. He's single, Junior's mom wanted nothing to do with him and left him with Tucker. He's a pretty good dad, surprisingly."

 

"Wasn't important?!" Wash repeated, avoiding the tidbit of information that Carolina had no doubt tried to distract him with. She puckered her face at his volume, and he winced before continuing. "Wasn't important to what? Are you- Carolina, are you trying to  set me up  with him?"

 

"You always liked your fixer-uppers," Carolina replied lowly. "Remember Maine?"

 

Wash tried very pointedly not to remember Maine, who was standing a good ten feet away.

 

"And it wasn't my idea, anyway. It's Church you should get upset with."

 

Wash absently rubbed his scalp, now a few hairs thinner. "I can't believe this," he grumbled, eyeing Tucker from across the yard. "Setting me up. You're all ridiculously terrible people."

  
"And that's why you love us." Carolina chuckled, swept Junior up in her arms, and sauntered back to the thick of the crowd. It was with a mixture of resignation, curiosity, and disdain that Wash followed her, and he wondered just how many more surprises this picnic would have in store for him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm officially procrastinating writing fanfic by writing other fanfic. I hope you enjoy the product of my unhealthy time management skills!


End file.
